[cmillerdesign]

I am starting up a small design business and need a laser printer. I currently have 2 networked (via Airport) Macs (G5 and G4 running 10.3 and 10.2). I'm not sure yet whether to go with a 8x11 color or a 11x17 grayscale. The stores just want to know how much I can afford. What I'd like is what is cost practical. I want accurate type and color (or grayscale). Speed is not an issue. I could settle for a non-networking version, but the printer is going to be 25' (cable length) away -- not sure if that is too long for a good USB signal. I can't spend more than $1000, but would prefer to be well under that. HP makes some nice looking gray scale printers with networking for under $600. What would you suggest looking at? Thanks.

[Xyphoid Process]

Print quality in B&W laser printers has advanced to the point where dollar-for-dollar the different manufacturers are pretty much indestinguishable. The only difference you might find is the quality (evenness etc...) of the halftones.

The main features you'll want to compare are
- speed (ppm)
- emulation (you'll need PCL5 or 6 and probably PostScript, but PS isn't as important these days now that there is CUPS printing for OS X)
- networking (don't screw around with USB or printer sharing - spend the money to get a networked printer)
- capacity (paper types and cartridge sizes)
- cost of supplies (toners and drums)
- mabe worry about processor (speed/ram) but not so important

I just got a Brother 1570DN for home and it works very well under both OS X and XP over ethernet/wireless. You might want to check forums to review compatibility issues, but generally Brother, HP and Samsung(?) are good at supporting Macs.

For colour, things get a lot more complicated. Make sure you understand the tradeoffs involved with a sub-$1,000 colour laser printer (speed, print quality etc...). Colour lasers simply have not matured to the point of B&W.

Good luck!

[StonedRose]

Originally posted by cmillerdesign:
I am starting up a small design business and need a laser printer. I currently have 2 networked (via Airport) Macs (G5 and G4 running 10.3 and 10.2). I'm not sure yet whether to go with a 8x11 color or a 11x17 grayscale. The stores just want to know how much I can afford. What I'd like is what is cost practical. I want accurate type and color (or grayscale). Speed is not an issue. I could settle for a non-networking version, but the printer is going to be 25' (cable length) away -- not sure if that is too long for a good USB signal. I can't spend more than $1000, but would prefer to be well under that. HP makes some nice looking gray scale printers with networking for under $600. What would you suggest looking at? Thanks.

I went with the HP LaserJet 1500L w/the HP 175 Print server (converts USB to Ethernet). It is a great Color Laser printer that I got on eBay for only $50.00. It is fast. perfect Color Laser quality. Took 5 mins to setup in OS X. The toner is 4 color (1 Cyan, 1 Magenta, 1 Yellow, 1 Black. Priced around $150 for all 4. This has been the best deal for myself. For a good B&W laser, I went with the GCC Elite 12/600 (has ethernet) and it is fast and excellnt quality for 600 DPI. Hope this helped a bit. ALoha.